🇮🇹 VIDEO: @giroditalia Another day at the #Giro and another great performance of all #AstanaQazaqstanTeam during all day long, ended with a bunch sprint and a third place 🥉 of @MarkCavendish Watch our Stage 11 story 📺 🎥 @eurosport / @discoveryplus / @gcntweet
"I am just sorry I couldn’t finish it off" - Mark Cavendish comes close to season-changing victory
CyclingThursday, 18 May 2023 at 11:46
Mark Cavendish has looked to be improving his form throughout the Giro d'Italia and was close to his first win of the season yesterday on stage 11, the closest he's been all year. He couldn't help but to feel disappointed at the line as he crossed it in third place.
“We were really motivated for today’s stage. It was a nice sprint on paper, but it wasn’t easy to arrive there… The way we built as a team this Giro we knew if we work together, we get there," Cavendish said in a post-race interview. "Vadim [Pronskiy] rode the whole day on the front, making an incredible tempo and making sure the break never got too far. And the boys looked after me in the final. There was a small kick when another team attacked to try to drop us, but the boys stayed with me. We were just off the pack, but we came back, we stayed together, we straight to the front and set up for the sprint."
After a strong performance on stage 10, Astana Qazaqstan Team were motivated and worked throughout the day to make sure this time the sprinters would decide the outcome of the day. The 37-year old was dropped in the final climb but managed to return in time to the peloton, where a bunch sprint was to take place. This time around he nailed his positioning, and with Mads Pedersen launching his sprint early the Manxman was in the right place.
"I was so motivated; the boys rode incredible for me, and I am so proud of them, and I am just sorry I couldn’t finish it off," he admits. For a few moments it seemed as if he was heading towards victory, however in the very final meters both Pascal Ackermann and Jonathan Milan came from behind to battle for the win between themselves - with the German ultimately taking it in a photo-finish.
"I couldn’t change anything else about the sprint. In terms of how the sprint went and how I rode it I just got beaten by, actually, two incredible young riders, Pascal Ackermann and Jonathan Milan. It’s not bad boys to be beaten by. So, my congratulations to Pascal," Cavendish, who may have done his last sprint in the race, concluded.
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